Steampunk is a style of fiction having to do with a semi-fictional world where old machinery from the Victorian 19th century is still being used. Technologies that were new or important to the Victorians, such as steam power, clockwork or electricity, are big themes in steampunk.

The fictional style has become an active 'scene' where steampunks dress in costume and attend meetings or conventions. This costume is a large part of the scene. Many steampunks spend lots of time sewing their own outfits, or collecting accessories such as hats and goggles. The Maker movement involves many people who are both Makers and steampunks.[2] They make Contraptions, fanciful devices as either art or a pretended function. Some of these contraptions are as large as cars, buses[3] or even a steam-powered mobile house.[1]

Sometimes this aspect is expanded to include cultural ideas of the 19th and early 20th century, such as small items like clothing and accessories, or large objects such as locomotives (trains) or machines that haven't even been invented yet, like airplanes.

Goggles are one of the most popular pieces of steampunk costume. Part of "the story" for steampunks is their bravery in hazardous situations, either exploring remote and dangerous places, or experimenting in their laboratory. In both of these, goggles are essential protective equipment. Steampunk goggles often have telescopic lenses or swivelling lenses on posts that can be rotated in front of the eyes.

Hats are not often worn today, compared to the past, and so steampunks favour wearing them as an easy and distinctive piece of costume. Favourite hat styles are top hats, pith helmets and pickelhaubes.

There are several related styles that have grown from steampunk. These usually have names ending in "-punk". The best known is "Dieselpunk", which is set in the 1930s. Like the Steampunk fondness for Victorian steam machines, Dieselpunks like the Modernist style of the 1930s, with polished aluminium aircraft and petrol or diesel engines.

Another variety is set in the American frontier during the late 19th century. The American 1960s television series Wild Wild West is a good example of this.

Paranormal steampunk includes legendary creatures such as werewolves or vampires and mixes horror with steampunk.

Riven- based heavily in the use of metal, steam-powered or manual, mechanical devices.

Myst III: Exile- Two worlds in the game are based in steampunk mechanics; one based heavily on steam and water power, and the other on manual mechanics.

Myst IV: Revelation- The main hub location of the game, Tomahna, partially involves the use of mechanical and electrically-powered devices. However, some items in the game are anachronistic (they do not exactly belong in that time period), such as cathode ray tubes (basic TV screens) and circuit boards. The clothing worn by the characters in the game are also similar to 18th and 19th century clothes.